May 11, 2009

2,000 Uses For WD-40?

A while back, I was talking to Stacy, the Designated Neatnik at work, and she told me her Dad told her that WD-40--a substance I've always regarded with vague suspicion (what is WD-40, anyway? The manufacturers won't say) can be used to actually clean things. "Like what?" I said, trying not to narrow my eyes because it's rude to do so and it's best not to alienate people at work in the event that, you know, you need to borrow their stapler or something down the line. Still, I was skeptical. As far as I knew, the sole purpose of WD-40 was to fix creaky door hinges. "Like, it can clean shower doors," Stacy said. "Oh come on," I said, but Stacy stuck to her guns. "There's websites," she said. "There's websites with hundreds and hundreds of things you can do with WD-40."

Thus filed under the category, Research When I'm Desperate For a Post Topic, I came upon the note I'd made and googled "cleaning with WD-40." Imagine my astonishment when I saw a WD-40 fan club (!) listing not hundreds but two thousand uses for WD-40, many of them having to do with cleaning. So what if most of us don't have a use for "cleaning gum from chicken feathers" and "removing peanutbutter from dog hair"? There's something for everyone here. Among (many) other things, you can use the humble and hard-working spray to:

Clean metal figurines

Remove crayon from carpet

Clean newspaper ink from tables

Polish scratches on countertops

Remove rollerblade marks from kitchen floors

Remove grime from grout

Remove petroleum stains from clothing

Clean (I'm sure they mean remove) food stuck in and around refrigerator

Comments

2,000 Uses For WD-40?

A while back, I was talking to Stacy, the Designated Neatnik at work, and she told me her Dad told her that WD-40--a substance I've always regarded with vague suspicion (what is WD-40, anyway? The manufacturers won't say) can be used to actually clean things. "Like what?" I said, trying not to narrow my eyes because it's rude to do so and it's best not to alienate people at work in the event that, you know, you need to borrow their stapler or something down the line. Still, I was skeptical. As far as I knew, the sole purpose of WD-40 was to fix creaky door hinges. "Like, it can clean shower doors," Stacy said. "Oh come on," I said, but Stacy stuck to her guns. "There's websites," she said. "There's websites with hundreds and hundreds of things you can do with WD-40."

Thus filed under the category, Research When I'm Desperate For a Post Topic, I came upon the note I'd made and googled "cleaning with WD-40." Imagine my astonishment when I saw a WD-40 fan club (!) listing not hundreds but two thousand uses for WD-40, many of them having to do with cleaning. So what if most of us don't have a use for "cleaning gum from chicken feathers" and "removing peanutbutter from dog hair"? There's something for everyone here. Among (many) other things, you can use the humble and hard-working spray to:

Clean metal figurines

Remove crayon from carpet

Clean newspaper ink from tables

Polish scratches on countertops

Remove rollerblade marks from kitchen floors

Remove grime from grout

Remove petroleum stains from clothing

Clean (I'm sure they mean remove) food stuck in and around refrigerator